Fra Bartolommeo’s sheet sold for $1.95 million
SOTHEBY’S SALES OF OLD MASTER PAINTINGS AND EUROPEAN WORKS OF ART TOTAL $82.5 MILLION SALES OF OLD MASTER DRAWINGS BRING OVER $9 MILLION, WITH NUMEROUS RECORDS ACHIEVED]]>
January 25, 2008, Source: Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s two-day sale of Old Master Paintings and European Works of Art in New York brought a total of $82.5 million (est. $68.3/99.7 million*). The top selling lot was a masterpiece by the German Medieval sculptor, Tilman Riemenschneider, a rare and important Franconian Limewood figure of Saint Catherine, circa 1505, which sold for $6,313,000, a record for the artist at auction. The series of auctions also included Old Master Drawings, bringing the grand total for the week to $91.7 million (est. $75.8/109.2 million). Auction records were established for Tilman Riemenschneider, Donatello, Lelio Orsi and Fra Bartolommeo, among others.
Sculpture captured the two highest prices of the two-day sale. A new auction record was achieved for Tilman Riemenschneider when the German master’s rare and important Franconian Limewood figure of Saint Catherine, circa 1505, sold for $6,313,000 (est. $4/6 million). Three bidders competed for the masterpiece before it finally sold to an anonymous bidder on the phone. That price eclipsed the previous record for the artist at auction set at Sotheby’s New York in January 2001.
An auction record was also established for Donatello when his exceptionally rare gilt and painted terracotta relief of the Madonna and Child was sought-after by five different bidders. The winning bid of $5,641,000, which surpassed the pre-sale estimate of $2/4 million, was placed by a client on the telephone who wishes to remain anonymous.
Two works by Lucas Cranach the Elder were among the top ten lots of the sale. Portrait of a Young Lady Holding a Bunch of Grapes, which depicts an archetype of female beauty, dressed in the height of extravagant German fashion, brought $5,081,000, above a high estimate of $2 million. The artist’s Phyllis and Aristotle, from 1530, also exceeded expectations selling for $4,073,000, above a pre-sale estimate of $2.5/3.5 million.
A rediscovered work by Georges de la Tour, Saint James the Great, sparked competitive bidding, commanding a final sale price of $3,223,000. Part of a group of thirteen canvases, representing the Blessing Christ and the Twelve Apostles, known as the Albi series, which have been rediscovered over the past decades, the work had been estimated to sell for $1.5/2 million.
Other highlights included The Penitent Magdalene by Titian which sold for $4,521,000 (est. $4/6 million); Bernardo Bellotto’s View of the Grand Canal with the Rialto Bridge and Canaletto’s London, A View of the Thames, Looking Towards Westminster from Near York Water Gate, both from the collection of Gordon Getty, which brought $2,169,000 (est. $800,000/1.2 million) and $2,057,000 (est. $700/900,000) respectively; and Aert van der Neer’s Winter Landscape with Kolf Players and Skaters on a Frozen Canalwhich sold for $2,057,000 (est. $1.5/2 million).
Old Master Drawings – January 23, 2008
Leading off the week were sales of Old Master Drawings which brought a grand total of $9,195,175. Several artist records were set across the two sales including those for Fra Bartolommeo, Agostino Carracci, Giuseppe Cades, Marco Pino and Ventura Salimbeni. The offering included the Jeffrey E. Horvitz Collection of Italian Drawings which brought $4,963,850 (est. $4.1/5.8 million) and was highlighted by Agostino Carracci’s St. Jerome in His Study which sold for $385,000 (est. $70/100,000), a record for theartist at auction. That price was closely followed by the $373,000 achieved for Lelio Orsi’s spectacular Apollo Driving the Chariot of the Sun (est. $200/300,000), which is a record for a drawing by the artist at auction. The sale of Old Master Drawings from various owners totaled $4,231,325, above the high estimate of $3.8 million. The top selling lot was one of the most important drawings to appear on the market in some time, a double-sided sheet by Fra Bartolommeo, which sold for $1,945,000, a record for the artist at auction.
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